Your Personal Network

Spread the news in your personal network

If you’re ready to share your course with the world but are uncertain where to start, a good jumping off point for gathering feedback is via your social and professional network.

When you write to people in your network, you can offer them a discount coupon code – even 100% off! By starting with the people who are already in your social or professional network, you can start gathering quality feedback more quickly. Receiving a few enrollments and reviews makes your course credible to other Udemy students, and can be essential to creating a strong start.

Reviews from students in your network

Students who enroll in your course from your personal network may be prompted to leave reviews early in the course. Keep in mind that Udemy employs a review filter which checks every review before publishing it. We do this to help ensure we are providing students with truthful reviews that will assist them in making decisions about which courses are right for them.

Our guiding principle is to only publish reviews that we’re certain reflect an engaged, unbiased opinion from learners, who have a genuine interest in the course material.

As a result, reviews from students in your personal network might not always meet this standard. We still encourage you to solicit as much honest feedback as you can from students in your network, but we can’t guarantee that every review from someone you know will be published.

How to tell friends and family about your course

Gather your contacts. Create a list of everyone in your network that would be excited to hear from you, or who would want to receive an update about your latest endeavor.

Reach out to everyone. Send your message via email, social media, and wherever else your friends and family hang out online. Take a moment to tailor the message to specific groups such as alumni or professional organizations so they don’t feel spammed.

Write in your own words. People will expect to receive a genuine note in your voice. Share the good news (“I’m excited to announce my new online course!”) and ask them to support you by either enrolling or sharing it with someone else who might benefit.

Give them a present. Use coupon codes to make the course low-cost or even free.

Meet in real life. Don’t forget to mention your course to people you meet in person! Talking face to face can be one of the best ways to try out and adjust your sales pitch. Ask questions about what bothers them, and think about how your course helps them solve their problems.

Put every email to work. Add a link to your course in your email signature: “Have you heard—I’m now accepting students into my NAME OF COURSE course! Join now for 40% off: [instructor coupon link].”

Sending mass emails

While sending personalized emails is the best tactic, you might have more people than you can write to individually. Here’s how to export your contacts from several platforms to send a group email. Avoid putting all the addresses in the “to” field, which can reveal all the accounts and create a mess of “reply all” responses. Put all the addresses in the “bcc” field instead.

Course launch email template

I’m excited to share that I just published my new online course [name of course linked to coupon], which I have been working on for the past six months and I’d love your help.

This course is for [your course’s target audience] and people who are trying to achieve [goals, skills], and covers [three interesting points they will learn]. I think you’ll get a lot out of it (including supporting me!).

My goal is to reach [number] of students by Friday. You can enroll now with this coupon [coupon link here] which brings the price down to [discounted amount]. Or feel free to share this link [linked to coupon] with someone else who might benefit from the course.

This coupon [linked to coupon] will expire within [time period no longer than seven days], so don’t wait!

As you check the course out, you’ll be prompted to leave a review. I’d love to hear your feedback, so please do write your honest thoughts!

Thanks so much for your support!

[OPTIONAL] P.S.: Here is a teaser to get you even more excited! [attach a promo video, short lecture, or resource from the course].